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MONTREAL -- Indian cooking becomes ever more popular, thanks to well-written cookbooks and TV shows that offer easy recipes for the home cook. Bal Arneson, the India-born Vancouver cooking teacher, has just published her third cookbook, Bal's Spice Kitchen (Whitecap, $29.95), a beautifully illustrated collection of 122 recipes that offer interesting combinations of seasonings. The book includes an illustrated glossary of spices, seeds and leaves, which should help newcomers to Indian cuisine. She also offers six homemade spice blends. Familiar to viewers of her new show, Spice of Life, on The Cooking Channel in the U.S., Arneson has a talent for demystifying her cuisine, as this recipe combining the flavours of cumin and mango demonstrates.

Chicken with Cashews and Mango Sauce

Serves 4

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil*

2 tablespoons grated garlic

1 tablespoon grated fresh gingerroot

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

½ cup unsalted cashew nuts

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

½ cup plain yogurt

2 cups mango chunks

In a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil and sauté the garlic and ginger for about a minute. Add the cumin, coriander, fenugreek and paprika, followed by the cashews, and continue cooking for about 10 seconds. Reduce heat to low and add the chicken. Cook chicken, turning it as it browns, until it is nearly done, about eight minutes. Stir in yogurt and cook mixture about two more minutes. Finally stir in the mango chunks. Serve with rice or Indian rotis bread.

* Peanut, safflower or canola oil may be substituted. All have a high smoke point.

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